Oracle reports strong second quarter

Oracle delivered strong second-quarter results on Thursday, as its chief executive Larry Ellison indicated that the company has set its sights on overtaking HP.

Oracle reported fiscal second-quarter earnings of $1.87bn (£1.19bn), or 37 cents a share, on revenue of $8.6bn. Non-GAAP earnings were 51 cents a share. Wall Street analysts were expecting earnings of 46 cents a share on revenue of $8.34bn.

The company said that new software licence revenue growth in the third quarter will be 10 to 20 percent. Total revenue growth was estimated at 31 to 35 percent. Oracle president Mark Hurd said that the plan is to aim the company's Exadata platform at Oracle's 295,000 database customers.

For more on this ZDNet UK-selected story, see Oracle touts strong second quarter, Exadata pipeline; Pans HP on ZDNet.com.